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Bullet Points
"Bullet Points" is the fourth episode of the fourth season of Breaking Bad and the thirty-seventh episode altogether. Teaser Mike huddles inside a Los Pollos Hermanos refrigerated truck as it travels down the highway. The truck stops: Mike knows something's up. Mike hunkers down as two gunmen blast the truck with machine guns. When they open the rear doors, Mike shoots them dead and jumps out. He winces as he touches his ear—a bullet took a chunk out. Summary In town, Skyler and Walt attend a Gamblers Anonymous meeting. Back at the house, they study card-counting strategies, rehearsing Skyler's scheme to convince the family that Walt won their car wash seed money by playing blackjack. After Walt loses several hands, they decide to emphasize his struggle to recover, rather than his skills. Skyler hands Walt a detailed script she wants them to follow at dinner with Hank, Marie, and Walt Jr. Walt is very dissatisfied with the script and reluctantly agrees to cooperate. He further reminds Skyler that he has been and still is providing for the family, but also appears to be very sorry for Skyler getting involved in this whole situation. At the Schrader home that night, Hank shows Walt and Walter, Jr. a DVD of Gale Boetticher singing karaoke, which was part of the package that was given to Hank in the last episode. Walt becomes very uneasy as he watches the video that reminds him of the murder. At dinner, Skyler and Walt successfully pull off their made-up story, convincing other people that Walt indeed has a gambling problem. Walt excuses himself and goes to Hank's bedroom looking for information on Gale's murder. He shuffles through the files before finding Gale's lab notes. In the hallway, Hank and Walt meet. Walt hints that he could look at the Gale Boetticher case for Hank so they end up in Hank's bedroom again looking over the files. Walt browses through Gale's lab notes from the superlab looking for any evidence that can be traced back to Jesse or himself. Hank believes Gale was Heisenberg, lamenting that he should've been the one to take him down. Walt asks more questions about the case, and Hank replies that there isn't much progress except some fingerprints. Walt rushes to Jesse's house and asks him about any kind of evidence he might have left behind at Gale's place. Jesse, after being reminded about the murder, is speechless and can't seem to focus. Walt insists that Jesse try to remember the event step by step, but Jesse can't take it anymore and forces Walt out of the house. The next day Walt tells Saul he fears that Hank will connect Jesse to the murder. Saul says there's nothing to worry about, but Walt catalogs his woes: Gus wants to kill him, Jesse is out of control and Gus will eventually perceive Jesse as too big a risk. There's also "this stupid car wash" he's buying with Skyler, who naively thinks Walt can walk away after his contract with Gus expires. Saul mentions that as a last resort, Walt can pay to have a “disappearer” vanish his family off the grid and set them up with new identities. Walt rejects the idea, and they're stuck at an impasse. The next morning, a tweaker watches Jesse head to his bedroom and come back with a wad of cash to keep the party going before leaving for work. He connects the dots: there's money to be had upstairs. At the lab, Walt watches as the camera follows Jesse's every move—his worry over his partner amps up. Jesse returns home and tosses the party guests some meth. In his bedroom, Jesse notices his money is missing but is eerily calm about it—he plays videogames with one of the party girls, nonchalantly. The next morning, Mike wakes Jesse and drags him downstairs, where the tweaker thief is blindfolded, beaten and a little worse for wear, on the floor beside Jesse's bag of cash and Tyrus. Jesse coolly takes his money and walks away, telling Mike he isn't going to promise to "straighten up and fly right." "You're on thin ice, you little shithead," Mike responds, asking if Jesse wants to know what will happen to the tweaker. Jesse laughs. He knows Mike doesn't intend to kill the thief because he took the time to blindfold him. And either way, he doesn't seem to care. He's not afraid of anything right now. Mike meets with Gus and explains that Jesse is becoming a liability. Walt may not like it, Mike continues, but something has to be done. In the lab, an incensed Walt tries in vain to reach Jesse as he handles the cook by himself. Afterwards he rushes to Jesse's house, where he finds Jesse's cell phone but no sign of his partner. Walt returns to the lab. “Where is he?” Walt growls at the security camera. Mike, driving on the highway with Jesse beside him, asks if Jesse wants to know where they're going. Calm, unaffected, Jesse says, "Nope," and they drive off into the desert. Credits Main Cast *Bryan Cranston as Walter White *Anna Gunn as Skyler White *Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman *Dean Norris as Hank Schrader *Betsy Brandt as Marie Schrader *Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman Supporting Cast *David Costabile as Gale Boetticher *Ray Campbell as Tyrus Kitt Trivia *When Walt skims through Gale's notes at the Schraders' house, a Ron Paul 2012 sticker can be seen on one of the pages. *To create the bullet holes that strike the truck Mike is hiding inside, the special effects department drilled, wired and hand-planted 380 squib explosives onto the truck, including 150 on each side of the vehicle and 80 for the back door. Two sets of the back door were used, one for the view of shots being fired at the exterior of the door and one for the view of the interior. *For the scene with Mike waiting inside the refrigeration truck, series creator Vince Gilligan wanted audiences to be able to see his breath so they would know how cold it was. To create that effect, the special effects crew designed a tiny plastic box with holes in it and placed dry ice inside, which Banks kept inside his mouth to create condensation when he exhaled. The idea was based on a similar device film director Frank Capra previously used with his actors in one of his films, which Gilligan read about in Capra's autobiography. *The title "Bullet Points" is a possible triple reference, possibly to the Los Pollos Hermanos truck being shot at in the teaser; the bullet points Skyler used in the faux gambling addiction script that her and Walt were reading; and the discussion between Walt and Jesse about shooting Gale. Featured Music *'"Days Like This"' by Melanie Skybell *'"Major Tom"' as performed by David Costabile (as Gale Boetticher) *'"Flyentology (Cassettes Won't Listen Remix)"' by EL-P *'"Break"' by Crown City Rockers *'''"The 808 Track" '''by Bassnectar es:Bullet Points Category:Breaking Bad episodes Category:Season 4 episodes